100% pure bluff - almost...

Recently I made a pure bluff on the flop, which is a very rare thing for me to to, since they virtually never succeed. Still, the circumstances warranted it, I thought it was a profitable bet whether it got called or not.


I had just sat down and came in behind the button. First hand, a very weak limper (WK), who will play 83o UTG, enters the pot. It's folded to me and I have ATo in the hole. One blind looks like he's going to fold, so I raise to give him a bit of a kick in the ass, hoping the big blind will fold too, and I'll be heads up. No dice, the BB calls, as does WK.The flop is K J 6 rainbow. I bet and they both fold.


The very next hand I have QJ and limp after two loose limpers. The flop is 8 9 T rainbow. The nut straight, not bad. I bet and get two calls. I bet the turn and they both folded. I hear the comment "welcome to the game," after which I made a comment of my own indicating that I'm already on a rush*.


So I post the kill and get 97o, a real stupendous hand. Two take the flop with me, one decent player, and WK. The flop is A 3 4 rainbow. The decent player is not likely to have an ace here, or he probably would have raised pre-flop, but if he had Axs he certainly would have bet the flop second to act with two opponents. WK is easy to read and I think he has squat. He folds pretty easily if he doesn't have much, so I decide that a bet might just win the pot outright. I'm getting 3:1, so I need them both to fold slightly more than one out of four times to make this bet profitable. I bet, hoping to steal the pot.


Comments?


since a seven or nine might win me the pot when I pair up, this bet theoretically had some of the properties of a semi-bluff. Still, I was betting absolute crap, which makes it pretty close to a pure bluff.


*which i know is total BS, as you can never be ON a rush, you can only say you HAVE BEEN on a rush, but I said it for psychological effect.

they both folded.

The problem with making a stab here is that you will have to post a kill again. Your effective odds on this bet are less than they seem.

hey, i think most players will find it harder to call in that situation...gl

When you can read your opponents this well, you can pretend the A isn't there and play as if you have two overcards. I'd call it a good bet.


Regards,


Paul Talbot

i was playing in a 4-8 half kill the other day, and was getting these situations like crazy. the weak-tighties would see the flop with me, and i would bluff it and they would fold... i dont konw how i knew they didnt have anything, but they would drop almost every time. then they'd get clever and try to call me to the river, and id bet it to the river, and they'd fold on the river, giving me a bigger pot... in a couple key spots i actually made the same move with top pair top kicker, and when they folded, i mucked face-up in 'disgust' to reinforce their fold, and my image. i even got called to the river with a flop of AJx and i had JTs on the button. i turned over my hand and it was good. they were calling me down with really weak stuff because they knew i was putting moves on, but they didn't know when... because i played each hand the same. i also had some sort of read on these guys. one time i had a guy flip over a straight that he almost missed and mucked, but i didn't have to show... profitable day, when you can move 4-8 players off of a hand...

"in a couple key spots i actually made the same move with top pair top kicker, and when they folded, i mucked face-up in 'disgust' to reinforce their fold, and my image. "


Excellent thinking, and great move. You don't want to get pulled over by the bullshit police too often when there are several players at the table who 1) fold too often, and 2) are easy to read.

i also appreciate your post because there really isn't much posted on here about bluffing. semi-bluffs, sometimes. but most posts are 'i bet with such and such, MP folded' responses would be something along the order of 'you're crazy' if you posted a bluff and didn't explain it. we need more posts about bluffs on here. they are important, and it is advantageous to learn what kind of bluffs work and which ones backfire.

As it happens, I actually attempt the proverbial "pure bluff" more often than you might think. I do so when I have a drawing hand that misses and I have no way to win the pot other than to attempt a pure bluff. Whether to try a pure bluff or not depends on several factors:


1) how many opponents are left on the river. Against two or more, the chance I'll attempt a pure bluff goes way down. This is not to say I'll never try bluffing into more than one opponent, but it's much more likely to fail, so I'm much less likely to try. I did bet a busted flush draw into three opponents a while back, but the circumstances were just right:


I had A9h and limped on the button. The BB raised and six took the flop, which was 8 6 4 with two hearts. The sb bet, bb called (I put him on AK now), and one other called. I raised and everyone called. The turn was a black deuce. Checked to me, I bet and they all called. The river was another black deuce. Checked to me. Here, I was against three opponents, all of whom were very easy to read. The SB will bet a draw, and seemed a bit disappointed with the river, so I figured him for busted hearts. The bb missed, the look on his face said it all. The caller was not as easy to read, so I couldn't really know what she would do. Normally, bluffing into three opponents is pretty foolhardy, but with 2.5 big bets times four players, there were ten big bets in the pot, and I figured my chance of success was much more than 10%, so a bluff was clearly profitable, whether it succeeded or not. I put each of the blinds on about an 80-90% chance of folding, which only left the caller. If she would even fold 20% of the time, a bluff was in order. So I bet and they all folded. I suppose there was some chance I had the best hand, but somehow I doubt it. I simply saw what I assessed to be a profitable opportunity, and I didn't want someone ELSE to get all those perty little chippers....


2) the playing tendencies of my opponent(s), especially their propensity to call with weak hands. If I'm against a calling station who'll take bottom pair to the river with four overcards on board, bluffing is pretty pointless.


3) the pot odds you are getting, and those you are offering your opponent(s). the best pots to bluff at are probably the small to medium ones, as giant pots are not likely to be given up for one more lousy bet. Although YOUR pot odds are not as good when the pot is smaller, which means you should be less likely to try a bluff, the odds you offer your OPPONENT are smaller too, thus they are less likely to call. This is why I think bluff attempts are probably more likely to work as the pot gets smaller.


Dave in Cali